The present invention relates to a wear condition detecting apparatus for a tire and a method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wear condition detecting apparatus for a tire and a method thereof which can improve performance and safety of a vehicle by detecting a wear condition of a tire based on rotational information of the tire.
Since a tire is provided with longitudinal and vertical grooves for the sake of draining characteristics, there are formed rubber blocks that are enclosed by these grooves. A block of large size is hardly deformed by shearing in front, rear and lateral directions and presents high rigidity. A tire having a tread pattern consisting of such large sized blocks is generally called a tire of a high pattern rigidity.
The degree of pattern rigidity largely influences the slip rate besides cornering power or cornering force. Therefore, for estimating movements of a vehicle based on rotational information of a tire in a device for improving the performance or safety of the vehicle based on rotational information such as an ABS (anti-lock braking system), TCS (traction controller system), NAVI (navigation system) or a tire air-pressure drop alarming device, it is required to know the pattern rigidity of a tire. Further, wearing of a tire results in a smaller thickness of a tread rubber of the tire, whereby the rigidity in the front and rear directions becomes larger. The wearing of a tire also affects the performance of the vehicle on snow in the case of a winter tire, and affects the hydro-planing performance of the vehicle in the case of a summer tire. Therefore, while detection of wear is useful, these devices are not provided with a function of detecting wear of a tire. Wear of a tire can only be discriminated by either employing depth gauges for measuring groove depths or by confirming with eye sight a slip sign which is provided on a tire to indicate a wear limit. Such a confirmation with eye sight requires skill, whereby maintenance of a tire might be apt to be troublesome, and there also exist a danger in that wear of a tire is overlooked at the time of initial checking when performing maintenance of a tire.
The present invention has been made in view of these facts, and it is an object thereof to provide a wear condition detecting apparatus for a tire and a method thereof which regularly measures wear conditions of a tire and with which the performance and safety of a vehicle can be improved.